Youngtown Primary School Curriculum

The curriculum offerings at Youngtown Primary are continually evolving to prepare our children to be the very best they can be. Over the past two years we have delved deeply into the latest research and we have consulted widely with our school and broader communities in order to become clear about what today’s children require to be properly prepared for their futures. What has emerged is a set of understandings, skills and personal attributes that we are absolutely committed to nurturing and building. These include the following:

Key conceptual understandings from the disciplines as mapped out in the Australian Curriculum

Building Character Qualities such as integrity, compassion, and honesty.

In our 2014 Operational Plan Literacy and Numeracy remain as ongoing priority areas for our teaching and learning programs at Youngtown Primary. Additionally we have established the development of Solution Fluency and Student Wellbeing as priority areas for this year.

A whole school approach to planning ensures that there is continuity and coherence throughout the grades from kinder through to grade 6. To ensure that every child can reach their full potential, programs that offer extra support are available for students who need an extra boost. In addition we have a strong focus on supporting those children who thrive with extra challenge.

Geography, Science, History, Health and Wellbeing and Visual Arts also feature prominently in our teaching and learning programs. They are delivered through our inquiry-based learning programs over a two-year cycle. At Youngtown Primary School units of inquiry are student centred and teacher guided. Each unit features opportunities for children to demonstrate their skills and understandings, including a culminating performance or a scenario that is relevant and highly motivating to students. The focus of the units is determined by the concepts described in the Australian Curriculum. There is also a strong focus on developing the 21st Century Fluencies – Solution, Information, Media, Collaboration and Creativity.

At Youngtown Primary students also enjoy lessons in Physical Education, Music, Information Technology, Outdoor Education, Values Education, Aboriginal Education and Indonesian delivered by our outstanding team of specialist teachers. In addition to this all children engage in an 8-week contemporary dance program. Our grade 5 and 6 students also have the opportunity to try many different learning experiences through our Flexible Options program including, Mountain Biking, Taiko Drumming, Team Sports, Community Partnerships, Extended Science, Extended Maths, Dance/Music, Extended ICT.

Our kindergarten program (15 hours per week) provides a very rich beginning to formal school for the children in our community. The curriculum is planned around the National Early Years Framework: ‘Belonging, Being, Becoming’. There is a strong focus on building early literacy and numeracy skills, social and emotional development, physical skills, building family partnerships and nurturing a love for learning.

In all areas of our school our teaching and learning programs are shaped by a need to:

Engage all students

Focus on what is essential

Emphasise intellectual quality

Connect learning with real world application

Adapt to changing circumstances

Develop high order thinking skills

School wide Positive Behaviour Support

At Youngtown Primary our success in achieving high quality learning outcomes for students is underpinned by a comprehensive approach to supporting our students to make positive choices in all aspects of their school life. In fact our Positive Behaviour Support program is recognised throughout the education community as being exemplary and we regularly host visitors to see and hear about it. All children understand our three school-wide expectations and how these expectations relate to their lives at school and beyond. Furthermore they are supported, both through the curriculum and through daily interactions, to develop the skills and understandings required to uphold these expectations.

Reporting to Parents

The following are in place for parents to gain a detailed insight of their child’s learning and teaching program. In particular reports will rate each child’s progress against the Achievement Standards in the Australian Curriculum for Mathematics, English, Science and History.

A strong partnership between parents and teachers is critical to achieving the highest quality learning outcomes for students. We cherish every opportunity to strengthen these connections and work together to address each child’s learning needs. In fact we believe that parents are their child’s most influential educators and therefore we need to support parents in working with their children on learning goals at home. This is the focus of our parent/teacher discussions held early in term 1. In addition to this we welcome parents into our school and encourage them to make contact with their child’s teacher to discuss student progress and achievement at any stage in the year. Every child has a Communication Book, providing another avenue through which regular interaction between teachers and parents can take place.

Parent involvement in other areas of our school can occur through a range of possibilities:

We have enjoyed significant building upgrades over the past few years as a part of the Commonwealth Government’s ‘Building the Education Revolution’ initiative. This has included new amenities, two new early childhood classrooms, a performing arts classroom, a new library and computer laboratory. We also have an excellent multipurpose hall, refurbished classrooms that are all equipped with interactive whiteboards, refurbished administration area, and an outstanding garden which provides the setting for our outdoor education program. All of these facilities are positioned within beautiful grounds which include a wide range of play equipment to suit all ages, an oval and other playing fields, and netball courts.

Recent Highlights

At Youngtown Primary we always have plenty to celebrate. Some recent highlights include:

2014 – one of 20 Tasmanian schools chosen to join the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning Global Partnership

2013 National Safe Schools Award

Judged by our local radio station as the ‘Best of the Best’ school in 2013

Literacy and Numeracy results that are above the State average and also above ‘like’ schools.

Strong learning gains from year 3 to year 5 – stronger than the national average and similar schools

Visits by principals from other schools to learn about our school

Gaining further federal government funding to continue and expand our School Chaplaincy Program